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Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings

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Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings Lesson Summary Teaching Time: 2 – 3 hours Students gather information from real tree core samples and compare them to local climate Materials history. • Increment borer and grooved core holders * ∴ Prior Knowledge & Skills • Paper • Knowledge of connection between yearly • Dissecting microscopes and/or climatic cycles and tree growth magnifying glasses • Dendrochronlog sheets to record tree ring AAAS Science Benchmarks information Common Themes • Graph paper Constancy and Change • Pencils NSES Science Standards Advanced Planning Science as Inquiry Preparation Time: ~10 minutes Understandings about Scientific Inquiry 1. Review the instructions Science in Personal and Social Perspectives 2. Gather the necessary supplies. Natural Hazards Recommended Reading: (attached) • Intermediate Backgrounders: #1, 2, 5 * Editor’s Note: Increment Borers may be obtained through the County Extension Office or at a local university. ∴ Editor’s Note: If an Increment borer is not available you may complete Global Change – Time and Cycles attached at the end of this activity. ClimateChangeNorth.ca: Lesson Plans http://www.climatechangenorth.ca (Attached lesson) USGS: Global Change Teacher Packets – Time and Cycles http://erg.usgs.gov Climate Change North | Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings Grade Level: 4–8 Subjects: Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Visual Arts, English Language Arts In a Nutshell: Enrichment: Science, English Language Arts In this very hands-on lesson, students will learn about dendrochronology (the Time: 2–3 hours study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and Setting: Classroom, schoolyard or come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect forested area tree growth in their region. Students determine the average age of the trees in Materials: Using cross sections: their schoolyard, investigate any years of poor growth, and draw conclusions band saw or chain saw, using core about the reasons for the years of poor growth. samples: increment borer and grooved core holders, and paper, dissecting microscope(s) and/or magnifying glasses, dendrochronlog Goal: sheets to record tree ring information, graph paper, pencils To understand the relationship between climate and tree growth. Skills: Analysis, application, comparison, inference, interpretation Key Vocabulary: Dendrochronology, tree ring, increment borer, core sample, cross section Background Learning: Teachers should be familiar with the basic science of climate change and its anticipated impacts as reviewed in: ● High School Backgrounder #5: How do we Know? Teachers should also be able to help students identify differences in tree rings (and their significance) as outlined in the Teacher Handout: Dendrochronology: Investigating the Recent Past (attached to this lesson). Learning Outcomes: Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson: http://www.climatechangenorth.ca/section-LP/LP_28_HI_M_nancy.html (1 of 7) [7/25/07 1:00:06 PM] Climate Change North | Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings Introduction to Lesson Plan: The understanding and awareness of historical climate change is steadily growing as people around the world gather information from glacier ice, trees, lake bottoms and oral traditions. While scientists use glacier ice and muck from the bottom of lakes and oceans to determine that the climate was like thousands of years ago, trees can tell about the more recent past. Here in the north, close study of the growth rings of a tree can reveal a hundred years or more of climate history. Tree rings can tell us stories about relative temperatures, precipitation and growing seasons, and about extraordinary events, such as fires, that may have affected tree growth. Before this lesson, go over the basics of climate change and the potential impacts outlined in Intermediate Backgrounders #1 and #2. It is also necessary to teach your students a little bit about dendrochronology and it’s importance to the study of climate change. A brief overview has been provided below and you may refer to High School Backgrounder #5: How do we know? for more information. Reading the teacher’s handout on dendrochronology that is attached to this lesson will help you to complete the lesson successfully and help the students identify the differences in the tree rings that they might possibly encounter. It’s recommended that you review with your students the process you’ve chosen for acquiring and studying a tree sample (options described below). Download and make copies of the Student Handout: Dendrochronolog Sheet attached to this lesson. Prepare the necessary materials. Overview of Dendrochronology: Dendrochronology is the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past: dendron = tree, chronos = time, logos = the study of From the study of tree rings, students can determine the approximate age of their trees, as well as the climatic conditions each of their trees might have faced over its lifetime. Every year, trees produce a new ring of wood underneath their bark. The width of a ring tells us about the climate in the past because the growth rate depends largely on precipitation and temperature during the growing season. Trees grow more during wetter years with good temperatures (wider rings) and less during colder, drier years (narrow rings). It is important that students learn that tree rings are an important source of confirmatory data, at least over the near term (the life span of the tree being studied). Two ways to get a sample of the tree rings: 1. Students can find dead standing trees, stumps, or cut wood from their woodpile. You may choose to cut cross sections of tree trunks using a band saw or chain saw (depending on the size of the trunk). This is the most destructive way, but tree disks are the best samples since incomplete rings can be detected, narrow rings can sometimes be seen better somewhere else around the stem, and patches of rot can be avoided when dating the disk. (Note: Tree sections can be used year after year. If students mark them with pencil, they can be erased or sanded clean.) 2. Core samples can be taken from trees with an increment borer. Step by step instructions are included in the activity section below. You can obtain an increment borer from your local Forestry office (from Bob Sharp if you are in the Yukon), or purchase one on-line from Forestry Mall, in B.C. at: http://www.irl.bc.ca/Forestry% 20Supplies/increment_borer.htm Important note: If you use the increment borer, you need to make, beforehand, a small grooved piece of wood to hold the core sample so that you can sand it down to examine the rings. http://www.climatechangenorth.ca/section-LP/LP_28_HI_M_nancy.html (2 of 7) [7/25/07 1:00:06 PM] Climate Change North | Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings core sample holder The following resources were drawn upon for the development of this lesson plan: “Creating a Climate for Change Teacher Resource, 2001,” developed by individuals from Alberta Environment, Southern Alberta Environmental Group, USC Canada, Helen Schuler Coulee Centre, and the University of Lethbridge. “Dendrochronology: Investigating the Recent Past,” by Chris Marion; February 1998 Photographs of the process of taking a core sample, and the core sample holder compliments of: Brian C. McCarthy, Dept. Env. & Plant Biology, Ohio University Athens, Ohio, USA http://www.plantbio.ohiou.edu/epb/instruct/ecology/dendro.htm Activity: Before you move on to the steps of the activity, review the climate change information referenced above and introduce students to an overview of dendrochronology. Encourage students to speculate about what they might be able to learn about climate change from tree rings. Steps 1–8 are for acquiring core samples with an increment borer. If you are using tree cross sections for this lesson, skip ahead and start at step 9. 1. Prepare the pieces of grooved wood to hold the cores before going out to get them (see picture of core sample holder, above). 2. If you have an assistant to stay with the rest of the class, take your students out into the schoolyard area four at a time to use the increment borer to get a core sample. Otherwise, you could get them involved in an outdoor activity while you take them aside a few at a time. Select a tree that you wish to get a core sample from. Identify the species. If you are working in a forested area or park-like setting, consider keeping students busy with a nature scavenger hunt or identifying tree species. http://www.climatechangenorth.ca/section-LP/LP_28_HI_M_nancy.html (3 of 7) [7/25/07 1:00:06 PM] Climate Change North | Signs of Change: Studying Tree Rings The increment borer: handle, bit, and extractor 3. Place the end (bit) of the increment borer against the bark of the trunk about 50 cm up from the ground. Hold the bit just behind the threads and apply as much body pressure as possible. Slowly turn the handle until the threads are fully engaged. You want to core on a slight up angle so that, later, water and fluids will drain out, not into the tree. This reduces the negative effect of coring on the tree. Note: Plugging the tree is not recommended. 4. Once the threads are engaged, step back and turn the handle clockwise. When you’ve reached the right depth, if the extractor is not already inserted in the increment bit, back the bit out one full turn, and then insert the extractor into the hollow shaft. Note: place a slight up-pressure on the back of the extractor to ensure the leading tip stays under your sample. Insert the extractor to its full length (depending upon the species, this may require that you apply some pressure with the heel of your hand).
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